Manatee Springs State Park

The weather has really been pleasant and there has not been any rain for a month. Manatee Springs is a major spring but only produces a river of about 1/2 mi where it flows right into the Suwanee.

People swim and dive in the deep spring and there is a canoe launch and a nice boardwalk to the mouth of the river. An easy walk from the campsite. We didn’t see any Manatees.

On Tuesday morning, while it was still cool, we did the North End Trail, a 2-1/2 mi self-guided nature trail. They allow bikes but it has deep sand and would not have been any fun. It’s about a 1/2 mi walk from campground to get to the trail. Our plan is to leave here Wednesday morning and head to our favorite campground at Silver Lake.

Ocean Pond to Ichetucknee River

After spending 11 days at Ocean Pond National Forest Campground we moved on  Sunday morning .

We remembered a nice paved bike trail at Big Shoals State Park called the Woodpecker Trail. It was only a short drive from Lake City where we did some grocery shopping. So we biked for a few hours and then drove to our overnight at O’Leno State Park. It is a nice campground right off I-75 and usually has room after weekenders leave.

We had no phone or Internet here and decided to do the first canoe paddle on our trip the next morning at Ichetucknee Springs.

This is a big spring with a lot of flow and even though we have paddled it many times it is a great 2-1/2 hr. paddle trip.

We saw 4 deer, hundreds of turtles, lots of Heron and Ibis.

We had no problem getting the canoe off and on the RV. I bought a small cart that made it easy to get from the parking area to the boat launch.

We like to park at the take-out and paddle upstream to the spring and then have an easier float back to take-out.

After the paddle, instead of going back to O’Leno we drove to another Florida State Park, Manatee Springs. We got there at 1 PM and on a Monday they had lots of available camp sites.

Still at Ocean Pond

We stayed here for a full week and decided that we would skip driving back north to the Okefenokee Wildlife area as we had originally planned. So we decided to spend Thanksgiving here and stay until Sunday morning. The campground sites with electric power fill up as soon as someone leaves each morning.

Peggy and I did 3 bike rides as shown on map. One to the Olustee Battlefield that I blogged about. The next was our 14 mile ride around the lake with a stop at the Olustee Visitor Center, an old train station. The volunteers were surprised to see us ride up on our bikes, having no idea where we came from.. It turns out they live in Inverness, FL but travel North for a few months and volunteer as museum hosts. It was hard to get away as they wanted to keep talking since they get so few visitors.

Peggy enjoyed most of the rides except some of the forest roads got too sandy for her to keep going on her bike. But her walks were only a few hundred yards. The main paved roads near the campground had virtually no traffic, so that didn’t bother her at all.

I did a couple of rides North of I-10 on the forest roads but when I realized it was deer & bear season, I felt a little uneasy biking down these sandy roads without an orange hunting vest on. I figured I made a nice moving target.

Peggy saved some leftovers from our Thanksgiving dinner last month with the family.

So like the past 9 years, I lift my glass to celebrate another Thanksgiving dinner away from home.

Our next planned overnight on Sunday, is O’Leno State Park, only an hour away. We plan to do some grocery shopping in Lake City and maybe take a bike ride on the Woodpecker Trail in the Big Shoals Park nearby.

Settled down for a week at Ocean Pond

We left Jekyll Island at 7 AM on Wednesday and after a quick grocery shopping trip we arrived at Osceola National Forest’s Ocean Pond campground at 10 AM. Since this is the weekend before Thanksgiving we knew finding a campsite with electricity would be difficult, but they have sites with water only and that is where we first pulled into. I got on my bike and found that two campers just left the electric sites, so we quickly moved to the site with power for a week. They take no reservations here, so it is first come gets campsite. With our Golden Eagle pass it is only $12/night.

The campsites are large and there is a very strong ATT 4G signal here but no Wi-Fi.

I had a nice rest in my hammock as the temperature finally warmed to near 80^oF.

On Thursday we decided to take a little 9 mile round trip bike ride to the site of the biggest civil war battle in Florida at Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park. Peggy tried out the cannon to see if she would have been a good soldier.

Last Day at Jekyll Island

The weather was cool but dry so we biked all three days that we were here. Each day we biked a little further around the island’s paved bike trails. After the first 5 mi warmup on Sunday, we biked 9 miles over to the historical area on Monday.

There are some really cool old buildings in that area and most are still used for the high end lodging.

The hotel chains are all along the ocean on the north side of the island which is where we biked 12 miles on Tuesday. There were a few other bikers but in general this is a very quiet time of year.

The trail goes along the sand dunes with lots of public access to the beach.

There are many picnic pavilions and parking lots, but they are probably crowded in the summertime.

The island had lots of damage from Hurricane Matthew that came up the coast in early October. The workers were everywhere, including in the campground, removing fallen trees, branches and debris. But it didn’t look like there was any home damage.

On Wednesday morning we hope to get an early start and drive to Osceola National Forest’s Ocean Pond Campground in Northern FL. Our earlier plans were to stay in Ga and head to the Stephen Foster State Park  in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. We may head there around Thanksgiving. See new map.

Jekyll Island–Camp spot #1

We got an early start from Beckley, WV on Saturday morning and after a couple of gas stops we made it to Savannah, GA by 3 PM. We overnighted at the same Wal-Mart we had stopped at last year after touring Charleston, SC.

The place was packed with campers but we found a tiny spot next to a lagoon behind the store that was very quiet. We again got an early start and got to the Jekyll Island campground at 9 AM. Since it was a Sunday there were plenty of available sites.

This is really the only crowded private campground we plan to stay at this winter but it has strong Wi-Fi, good 4G phone signal, Cable TV and is right on the islands 25 miles of bike trails.

Sunday was cloudy and cool, 65o. After setting up we caught up on some rest while I watched football on TV.

Before supper we took a short 5 mile bike ride on the trails near camp.

Monday it is supposed to be sunny and warmer so we plan to take a longer bike ride to the historical area.

First Day on the Road South

Peggy & I raked leaves and mowed the lawn for the last time on Thursday.  We decided to have another supper with Pam & Joan  and their kids at Fiesta Jalapenos. A fun night to say goodbye to half the family. But I forgot my phone, so no pictures.

We left about 8:15 AM on Friday morning and took a little detour to Ohio Amish Country. Peg has not been down here for a while so we took our time stopped at the famous Lehman’s Hardware. Then went over to Ashery Bulk Food store to stock up on candy, nuts and some Swiss cheese. A little craft shopping and by noon we were on our way heading south on I-77.

Of course we saw lots of Amish buggies and all the kids at schools along the way.

It was cool but sunny and windy.

Peggy, checking out the rockers. I was off mine.

Our drive to Beckley, WV was uneventful and we did some food shopping at Sam’s Club and had dinner before spending the night in the Super Walmart parking lot. We will gas up in Wytheville and try to get into SC near Charleston on Saturday.